Airstrikes on IS-held Syrian Raqqa kill 18: Activists

June 22, Beirut: At least 18 civilians including two children have been killed in Syrian airstrikes targeting the Islamic State's de facto capita of Raqqa, activists said Wednesday.

The barrage, blamed on the Russian and Syrian air force, came as government forces sought to recover from losses in a stalled offensive on the extremist-held city.

Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar Assad designated a new prime minister to form the government following April parliamentary elections. The vote, held only in government-controlled areas, was dismissed by the opposition and much of the international community as a rubber-stamp election for the president, reports said.

The strikes on Raqqa, which took place on Tuesday evening, came after government forces suffered setbacks fighting IS in the north. Activists from the group known as Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, which relies on residents to smuggle news out of IS-held territory, said the air raids killed 18 and wounded 28 people.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the toll at 25 civilians, including six children, but different casualty tolls are common in reporting from Syria's civil war, now in its sixth year.